Homecoming
by cloverhand
Summary: Rahm. Rahne comes home from Scotland, back to Xavier's. Sam and everyone else from the mansion are waiting to meet her. K for minor swearing and the like.


Hey. This is a one-shot I've been working on. It's Rahm, cuz they're just adorable together. I've never actually written Sam or Rahne, so I'm hoping there not OOC, but since Evo gives us so little to work with for the New Recruits, I kinda took what I could get and went with it. And since there's little to no Rahm on the site as it is, even if this sucks, it's still an addition, right? And as for accents, I've never actually met someone w/ a Scottish accent, and I've only talked to people with German accents a few times, so I may have mangled both Rahne and Kurt's accents. Southern, half my family is from Kentucky or West Virginia and the like, so I have no excuse for Sam's suckish accent. However, I do think that I have Scott, Jubilee, etc. down pat. Possibly, because they have virtually no accent. Please read and review. I really truly care what you guys think. Is it good, cliched, OOC, painful, or what? Just don't flame, k? Reviews _always _make my day, just in case you were wondering.

Disclaimer: If you recognize it, I don't own it. Somebody who's big, important, and has a lot of lawyers owns it.

So, without further ado, enjoy!

* * *

"So, where're you headed, hun?" A cheerful flight attendant leaned over the aisle seat on Rahne's left side, currently devoid of its passenger, to speak to Rahne, checking on her for what seemed like the hundredth time so far over the course of the flight. Rahne slouched further into her almost-but-not-quite-comfortable seat on the airplane and scowled; she knew Moira had asked the airline to keep an eye on her for her own safety, but still, she was 16 now, not 6! She could take care of herself.

"Home," replied Rahne almost immediately, without even stopping to think about it.

"Oh, how nice! Are you looking forward to getting back?" exclaimed the flight attendant, whose nametag read Heather.(1)

"More than anything. I've been away far too long."

Seeing Rahne's scowl fade away, to be replaced by a wistful smile, Heather decided to let the girl be, and walked off, in search of something to do.

* * *

'Home, hmm? Is the Institute home?' Rahne silently mused, not even noticing as Heather, the Energizer Bunny Flight Attendant, wandered off. 'Could the Institute be home? After all, I've been gone for a year. It's gonna be different. Everyone there's gonna be different. Hell, even I'm different. But still, they're all practically my family, it won't matter if we've changed, we're still one big, happy, mutant family. But what about Moira? She gave me shelter, saved me when everyone else turned on me back home, she was even the one who sent me to the Institute. Isn't she my family? Yeah, she is, well, she's part of it. But no matter how much she cared for me, my home's not with her: it's with the X-Men. They're really my family, my pack. I've missed them all so much. The Professor. Ms. Munroe. Mr. McCoy. Mr. Logan. Scott. Jean. Rogue. Evan. Kurt. Kitty. But more than anyone else, I missed all of the other New Recruits. Bobby. Ray. Jamie. Amara. Roberto. Jubilee. Sam.' Rahne blushed when she reached Sam's name in her head. She reached down into her carry-on bag to get out her iPod, in a futile attempt to hide the blush that wouldn't leave her face. She popped in the earphones and turned up the volume, hoping to drown out her embarrassment. However, as soon as her thoughts began to wander, they returned to the same track, causing the Scottish girl's cheeks to flare brighter than the hair falling around her shoulders, no longer held back by her once customary pigtails.

'Bloody hell! After all this time I still can't even _think_ about him without blushing? Have I got it bad or what? I'm nearly as bad as Jubes was, and she was pretty bad…I wonder if she and Bobby ever did get together? Hmm…well, I'll know in another—4 HOURS! Seriously? Another 4 hours until I get back? Uggh…'

Rahne groaned aloud and collapsed back into her seat. She cranked up the volume on her iPod, and let Coldplay take over her thoughts. She looked out of her small airplane window and groaned again: water stretched as far as the eye could see. No sight of land anywhere.

'Well, it stands to reason– we wouldn't be four hours away if we could already see America.' Needless to say, that particular train of thought didn't do much to cheer Rahne up. She abruptly steered her thoughts to something much happier, namely, her time at the Institute. Memories danced through Rahne's head as she pulled the shade down over the window on her right, put a pillow over it and leaned her head against the pillow. Playing Frisbee with Sam; shopping with Jubes, 'Mara, Kitty, and Tabby; hiking in the Redwoods with Mr. McCoy, Bobby, 'Berto, Kitty, and Evan; staying up late, talking with her roomie Jubilee about everything from Bio homework to the various boys living with them; movie nights with the other New Mutants—most notably the time they watched _Waitress_ (it was Amara's turn to pick) and waking up in Sam's arms while he was carrying her up to her bedroom, after she had fallen asleep on his shoulder during the movie; and other memories of her time at Xavier's. Pretty soon, Rahne fell asleep, a giant smile gracing her unconscious features. Unsurprisingly, her dreams were set back in Bayville, and seemed to heavily feature a certain tall, blond Southerner.

* * *

"Please return your seats and tray tables to the upright position. We are now beginning our departure." Rahne was awoken suddenly a few hours later to the drone of the pilot's voice over the intercom.

Rahne bit her tongue to keep from whooping out loud. Despite her best efforts, a whispered, "Yessss!" escaped from between her lips, which were currently stretched into a grin so wide that it looked like it was in legitimate danger of splitting her face.

"Excited to get off the plane, luv?" questioned the woman to Rahne's left, valiantly trying to hold in a chuckle. The woman looked to be about 27 or so, with Japanese features and hair so black it almost seemed purple, Rahne observed subconsciously.(2) It was funny how even after a year away from Logan, his training still stuck with her. Even in the most innocent of situations, Rahne was constantly observing everything, so in the worst case scenario, if things went bad, she would be prepared.

"Aye. I've been away for much too long. It's past time to be back," Rahne responded almost giddily, now practically bouncing in her seat. The woman lost her battle with herself and the chuckles that she had almost completely tamed escaped.

"I know what you mean. I'm just coming back from a much needed visit home, myself. How about you, luv?"

"I'm _finally_ coming back home. I've been in Scotland the past year but—" Rahne broke off as she glanced out the window and saw the brightly shining lights of New York rapidly growing closer. "Oh my gosh! We're almost there! We're about to land!"

Rahne hurriedly shoved her iPod and her book into her bright green backpack and zipped it up, before pressing her nose back to the glass. She was soon able to make out the lights of the runway and the airport in the distance. She watched as the plane got closer and closer to the runway and got more wound up by the second.

"And—and—and WE'RE HERE!" Rahne squealed in joy when the wheels of the plane touched the ground. She smiled from ear to ear as the plane coasted down the runway before coming to a stop next to the terminal. The woman on her left shook her head in amusement while Rahne fidgeted, waiting impatiently to be allowed to leave the plane. She broke out in a grin when they were finally told that they could exit to the terminal; the joy emanating from the teenaged girl to her right was infectious.

Rahne reached down to grab her backpack before quickly jumping to her feet and slinging the bag over her shoulder. She shifted from foot to foot as she waited for an opening in the stream of people that would allow her to step out into the aisle. Finally, the purple haired woman seized an opening in the seemingly unending line of passengers, and Rahne followed behind, hot on her heels. She beamed again, even wider this time: every step she took brought her closer to the X-Men, to her family, to her pack, to Sam. Following the crowd of frazzled travelers, Rahne finally stepped off of the plane and out onto the gateway.

"Have a nice day!" waved one of the flight attendants to the travelers as Rahne began to walk down the hall towards the terminal where her friends were waiting. Hearing this Rahne nearly dissolved into a fit of excited giggles. After all, the next few minutes were going to make her day an even nicer day than even the overly happy flight attendant could wish her. Hell, the next few minutes were gonna maker her whole damn year! With that, the redhead sped up, eager to see everyone again.

Stepping out into the bright light of Terminal B at JFK, Rahne paused and kneeled down to tie her sneaker. She readjusted the legs of her jeans, so the ends would come down to cover the tops of her green hi-tops. She stood up and pushed the sleeves of her jacket up to around her elbows and started to scan the crowd.

Suddenly, Rahne spotted the residents of Xavier's mansion, all standing together in one big group. Squealing, Rahne sprinted up to them and dropped her backpack before she began to hug and/or nearly tackle everyone in sight. Jean. Ray. Bobby. Rogue. Kurt. Amara. Ms. Munroe. Kitty. It became a blur of faces and delighted shouts to Rahne. But even in her ecstatic state of incomprehension, Rahne realized something was wrong: out of every face she saw, not one of them was Sam's. Rahne decided to ignore this for the moment, focusing instead on the warm fuzzy feeling in her stomach and on glomping the next person she saw, who just happened to be Roberto. She quickly fell back into the pattern of hugging someone and shouting excitedly along with them, before moving onto the next person. Scott. Tabby. Logan. Jubilee. Mr. McCoy. Jamie.

While hugging Jamie, Rahne looked over his shoulder and saw a figure approaching the large cluster of mutants. Her heart leapt into her throat when she realized who it was.

"Aww, shoot! Did she get here already?" Sam called from a few yards away as he walked towards the group, his hands swinging lazily at his sides. A half-second later, Rahne was running towards him, the rest of the group forgotten behind her.

"Sam!" she cried gleefully, as she jumped into his arms. "I missed ye, laddie," she mumbled into his blue and white baseball t-shirt, as he held her tightly to his chest.

"Ah missed ya too," Sam replied, resting his chin on the top of her head. "Listen, Rahne—" he broke off, clearly nervous. "Ah've wanted to do this for a long time. But, just tell me ta stop and Ah will."

"What?" Rahne looked up at the taller Southerner, clearly confused. Sam cupped his hand around her cheek and tilted her face up and he leaned down. He stopped, his lips mere inches from hers, a question in his eyes. Tired of waiting, Rahne reached up and placed her hand at the back of his head, pulling it down so his lips could meet hers. Without breaking lip contact, Rahne ran the fingers of her right hand through Sam's hair while moving her left hand up to rest on his left shoulder and Sam moved both of his hands to rest on Rahne's waist. A few moments later, after breaking apart for air, Sam rested his forehead against Rahne's, keeping his hands where they had been, and her hands moving to wind around his neck.

"See? That wasn't all that bad, was it?" Sam asked her, slightly breathless, but smiling nonetheless.

"'All that bad?' Are you kidding me? Do ye have any idea how long I've been waitin' to do that?"

"Not anywhere near as long as me, Ah reckon."

"Wanna bet, laddie?"

"Nah, Ah'd much rather do this." With that Sam leaned down, closing his eyes, and kissed Rahne again, until they were both completely out of breath. They jumped apart, flushing bright red, to the sound of the other Institute kids clapping and cheering.

"Damn, Ah'd forgotten that they were here," Sam muttered, still blushing a shade of red that put Clifford to shame. "So, Rahne…Would ya, Ah mean…Do ya wanna—er, will ya—"

"Sam," Rahne cut him off. "Will ye be my boyfriend?"

"Ah'd love to," Sam smiled gratefully at her, rubbing his neck in obvious embarrassment over his stuttering. "Will ya be my girlfriend?"

"I'd love to." Rahne stared up at him, waiting for him to do something instead of just standing around and grinning like a fool.

Sam leaned down to kiss her again, when Amara loudly cleared her throat right next to them.

"Yeah, sorry to interrupt and all, but we might want to pick up your luggage sometime this year."

"Right, sorry," Rahne mumbled, as she and Sam flushed in embarrassment, yet again.

"Jeez, 'Mara! Way to kill the moment!" Tabby snorted sarcastically behind them. Rahne and Sam missed Amara's haughty reply, as well as the rest of the conversation that followed, as it faded into the dull roar emanating from the teenaged mutants, louder now that their instructors had left already to start the waiting vehicles.

"C'mon, Rahne, let's go get your stuff," Sam grinned down at his new girlfriend and took her hand.

"Alright. So, where do we go?"

"Ummm…Ah honestly have no idea." Sam raised his voice so he could be heard over Ray and Roberto's heated argument over something of little to no significance. "Hey, Scott, where do we get the luggage?"

"You don't know where to go?" Sam shook his head in response to the Fearless Leader's question. In response, Scott turned to address the whole group. "Do any of you know where the baggage claim is?" He was met with blank looks from all of the teenagers. "Really? No one?" Still, he found no signs of response. "How do none of you kn-- Oh, just follow me." Scott sighed and shook his head as he walked off with Jean, not waiting to see if the others were following them.

"Go, Scott, go! Lead the way, Oh Fearless Leader!" Bobby shouted from a dozen or so paces behind Scott and Jean, clearly very pleased by the irritated scowl on Scott's face.

"Yeah, Scooter! If Dora the Explorer can do it, you can too!" Jubilee egged him on, just as pleased with Scott's response as Bobby, who had just wrapped his arm around her waist, was. "Bonus points if you can do it Spanish too, just like Dora!"

Scott sighed and rolled his eyes, not that anyone could tell, as his eyes were hidden behind his customary shades. "_Vaminos__,_ morons."

"All right! Let's go!" Bobby and Jubilee cheered, soon joined by Kurt, Jamie, and Tabby.

Rahne grinned at her friends' familiar antics. "It's good to be home."

"Well, it's good to have ya home." Sam squeezed her hand and adopted an identical grin.

"So, how were things around the mansion without me?"

"Honestly, they were eventful, to say the least. Don't get me wrong, it would have been better if you'd been able to stay, but still, it was pretty busy. Ya heard about Apocalypse, right?" Rahne nodded. After all, who hadn't heard of Apocalypse? "So, after all of that stuff was over, the shit really hit the fan. Riots, protestors, the Friends of Humanity, all that fun stuff. School's a real nightmare these days. There are a few people who don't mind us, there are even a few who think we're real heroes for stopping Apocalypse, but most of the kids there hate us. They're constantly harassing and threatening all of us. It's all harmless, more or less, but still, it makes school miserable. There are never any actual fights; Ah reckon that as much as they want us expelled for using our powers on campus, they're all to scared of us to try anything. And it's been getting worse too. Plus, there are almost always protestors 'round the Institute's gates. Normally they just stand 'round, but a couple of times actual mobs have tried to break in. And, there's the anti-mutant legislation in the works in Washington, but Ah'd rather not talk about that, if Ah can avoid it."

"Wow. That was cheery. I almost dinnae want to ask if there's any good news."

"Oh, yeah! The good news! Ah'd forgotten to tell you 'bout that. We've picked up some newer recruits. Most of 'em are about our age, Ah figure. They're on a new team, it's called Generation X. It's nice, 'cause we're not the newbies anymore, so Logan picks on them more, and picks on us a little bit less."

"How many of 'em are there?"

"A bunch. Alex, Scott's brother, is with us though, since Bobby moved up."

"Bobby's an X-Man? Good for him! But now that he's gone, who's leadin' us?"

"That'd be me," Sam mumbled, blushing bright red and staring at the ground.

"That's great! Congratulations!" Rahne dropped his hand and pounced on him, giving him a bone-crushing hug. "You're Fearless Leader 2.0! Now all ye need are some glasses and you're set!" (3)

Sam's reply was cut off by the frantic shout of, "Hurry up! We do _not_ have all day!" coming from none other than the original Fearless Leader. Scott was walking backwards and waving his arms wildly at the other teenagers as he shouted. "If we don't get back soon, there won't be anywhere to get back to! You all know what happened last time we left the Gen X'ers alone!"

"Scott!" Jean snapped, trying in vain to get his attention. "There's a—" Scott quickly turned around and walked straight into a wall, face first. "—wall there." Jean sighed as Scott fell to the ground, dazed. He sat up groggily, rubbing his head.

"Hey, Summers! I thought we were hurrying," Ray smirked as Scott checked to make sure his glasses were in place before he looked up and shot Ray a glare.

"Shut up, Crisp. We _are_ hurrying."

"_Ja_, into walls!" Kurt laughed as he leaned against the wall Scott had just body slammed.

"Oh, just come on!" Jean sighed exasperatedly as she pulled Scott to his feet. "Seriously you guys, we do need to hurry, but I think we can all do it facing forward, all right?"

The group trekked onward, now all of them facing the front, and Scott's face matching his glasses in color. Sam and Rahne walked hand in hand, indulging in small talk about their time apart, just happy to be together after so long.

Pretty soon, the baggage claim came into view.

"Bags ahoy!" called out Bobby. "Luggage approaching on the port side, Captain Cyclops!"

"The luggage is on the right side, dumbass. The right side is the starboard side, not the port side," Roberto commented, rolling his eyes at his former teammate.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, Sunny D. Maybe I would care more if I cared." In response to Bobby's rather nonsensical reply, Roberto rolled his eyes again and stalked off to stand with Amara, Scott, and Jean by the edge of the luggage convoy. The rest of the group caught up with them and formed a mob at one side of the track, with Rahne, and along with her Sam, pushed to the front.(4)

"You know, you sound like a moron whenever you talk. Maybe stuff would work out for you more if you just kept quiet all the time," Jubilee told her boyfriend.

"Wanna help me stop talking?" Bobby questioned, waggling his eyebrows suggestively. Without waiting for a response, he leaned in and kissed her.

As they made out, Kurt, showing a rather startling lack of maturity, started skipping in circles around them singing, "Bobby and Jubilee, sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G! First comes love, zhen comes marriage, zhen come the X-Men with a baby carriage!" By his third repetition, Scott finally lost his patience.

"Drake! Lee! Separate! And Kurt, how old are you? 7? You are the most immature high school senior I have ever met, and that's saying a lot, considering Matthews!"

"Maturity is for zhe weak!" Kurt cried and slipped into the X-Mob, most likely to find an accomplice in order to cause more trouble for Scott. (5)

"Ooh, there it is! That one!" Rahne shouted, pointing as a large black suitcase approached the group of young mutants. As it was passing by them, Sam reached out and snagged the suitcase by the handle on its side. "All righty then, where's the van?"

"That's all your stuff?" Amara asked incredulously. "Well, I'd say that we need to go shopping soon.'

"Nay, lass. That's nae all of it. Moira's had the other stuff shipped over to the Institute; this is just to hold me 'til all my other clothes arrive."

"That a really good idea! But, it's whatever. We still need to go shopping. Like, as a 'Welcome home!' sort of thing. All of us girls could go, just like old times!" Kitty exclaimed, obviously excited by the prospect of a shopping trip.

Amara, Tabby, Kitty, Jean, Jubilee, and Rogue all wandered ahead towards the exit, chatting happily about an upcoming shopping trip. While less eager than the others, even Rogue added her comments and opinions from time to time.

Sam and Rahne walked a few paces behind the others, still holding hands. Sam pulled Rahne's suitcase along behind them with his other hand, despite Rahne's protests that she could get it herself.

"To be honest, I don't know iffen I ought to be thrilled or worried by the thought of shopping with all of 'em," Rahne giggled as the two of them reached the glass doors leading out of the airport and to the waiting cars.

"Relax; it's a good thing, Ah think. But seriously, forgetting about shopping for the moment, things are changing, Rahne. It's a new world back here in Bayville; it's changed a helluva lot since ya left us. And besides, with ya coming back, us going out, and everything else being different too, this is all like a new beginning, a fresh start. Let's make the best of it."

"Well, laddie," Rahne replied, lying her head on Sam's shoulder, "If this is only the beginning, I'm already lookin' forward to the rest of the story."

* * *

AN: This is uber random, but I just saw Iron Man 2 tonight, and it was excellent. As in, it was friggin' amazing. Except my head hurts from all the explosions. Granted, I've been home sick with the mother of all headaches since Tuesday afternoon, but you get the point. Anyhow, onto fic related notes.

That ending was kinda tacky and cliche. Sorry 'bout that. I would say it won't happen again, but it probabbly will. I apologize once more for any and all accents I screwed up. Apparently, I suck at accents. It's why I take Latin and Ancient Greek, I can't screw up dead peoples' accents. So, now that you've read, please review! I'm not feeling creative enough to make up a halfway decent incentive or threat to get you to review, so I won't, but you should review anyways. K?

Umm, yeah. Footnotes:

1. Heather the flight attendant is named after my friend Heather, who had a birthday the day before I started writing this, as in, it was last Friday. Happy Birthday Heather. Also, she dressed up as the Energizer Bunny for Super Hero spirit day, so kudos to her.

2. Did anyone get the blatant nod to a rather prominent comic verse character, who didn't show up in Evo?

3. Sam at some point aquires a pair of goggles that go with his uniform in the comics.

4. I've wanted to call 'Berto that for the longest time. People call him Sunny in some fics, but with a last name like da Costa, I feel like adding the D to Sunny just ups the level of coolness by 13 or so. Just saying.

5. That is quite possibly my motto.


End file.
